


The Night We Met

by idrilhadhafang



Series: The Good Timeline [4]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren (Comics), The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, Character Death In Vision, Eventual Poe Dameron/Ben Solo, Fix-It of Sorts, Fusion of Star Wars Legends and Disney Canon, Jedi Ben Solo, Luke Skywalker Is Not an Asshole, M/M, Minor Mara Jade/Luke Skywalker, Nightmares, Nothing Happens Between Ben And Poe Until Ben’s Eighteen, Shara Bey Lives, The Reylo’s Only In A Vision, Timeline Shenanigans, Torture In Dream, Villain Character Death, Visions in dreams, Weird Plot Shit, Young Ben Solo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-17 01:34:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28840980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: Ben Solo’s training at the Jedi Academy, not far from where Poe is. As he gets older, his feelings for Poe grow and develop — as well as the threats of the outside galaxy.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Ben Solo, Poe Dameron/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: The Good Timeline [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2107791
Kudos: 4
Collections: Darkpilot Sentence Starters, Darkpilot YouTube





	1. Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author’s Notes: Considering the whole thing about alternate timelines I’m toying with here, I thought titling it after Lord Huron’s “The Night We Met" was appropriate, all things considered. We are, technically, going back to Ben and Poe's meeting — it’s just playing out in a different version.

_“I had no idea we had the best pilot in the Resistance onboard."_

_Even as Poe Dameron glared up at Ben from the torture rack (yes, that was him, Ben thought. Much older, but it was him. It was them as adults), Ben observed him, keeping a careful distance from him. He knew that Snoke would want him to torture Poe. Knew that Snoke would want him to hurt him. He doubted he could do it, though, no matter how much Snoke wanted him to. Poe was everything to him.  
_

_“Comfortable?” Ben said. His voice sounded funny, muffled behind the mask. It didn’t sound natural, almost like it was being hidden from the rest of the galaxy.  
_

_“Not really,” Poe said.  
_

_Ben stepped forward. He knew that he had to at least be gentle with Poe. He had promised himself that much, being gentle with him, being as soft as he could. He owed Poe that amount of mercy, he knew that much.  
_

_Mercy. It was something that he wouldn’t have thought of for his other victims. But for Poe, at least — he could do that. He wasn’t supposed to be here, after all. He was supposed to be safe.  
_

_Safe and sound.  
_

_“I’m impressed,” he said, and he genuinely was. Strong, so strong, his Poe. “Nobody’s been able to get out of you what you did with the map.”_

_”You might want to rethink your technique.”_

_There it was. Now was the moment where he would do the unthinkable to someone he loved..._

***

It was ten-year-old Ben Solo who jolted awake en route to Yavin IV on the Millennium Falcon, looking around frantically. Gasping for breath. Han turned to look at him, visibly scared. “What’s wrong? Are you all right?”

How could he even tell his father? His mother? Anyone? Ben doubted that he really could, in the end. Because they would only reject him. Be mad at him. Ben didn’t want those dreams about a man in a helmet hurting Poe, but they seemed to come anyway. 

“Yeah.” Ben said. He took a deep breath. “Just...just a bad dream. Fell asleep.”

Han walked over to him and sat down. Fortunately the ship was in hyperspace, so Ben didn’t have to worry about it veering off-course into an asteroid or something. Chewie joined him, as did Leia. 

“They’re just nightmares, Ben,” Leia said. “They don’t define you.”

”Exactly,” Han said. "They’re just nightmares. They’re not real. I promise.”

Ben swallowed. Was that even true? Stars willing he didn’t want to hurt Poe in any way. But it was just a dream, right?

But what was the difference between a dream and a vision? Master Tano had talked about visions of different timelines; was that the case with Poe on the rack? Whatever that man was?

Ben was at least glad that that was, possibly, a different timeline. 

***

They disembarked from the Millennium Falcon, where Uncle Luke walked up towards Ben, Grogu in a carrier beside him. Grogu sat up and chirped, cheerfully. Despite himself, Ben smiled. “Hi, Grogu!" he said. “Hi, Uncle Luke!”

For a moment, it seemed that the nightmares were clearing. Just for a moment. 

Luke smiled at him. “I can show you around, if you want.”

***

Ahsoka Tano was more than happy to see him, smiling fondly at him even as Ben said hello to her. Ben took in the mess hall, the training room, the courtyard, even as Uncle Luke showed him around. Everything just seemed so very huge...

“Is this...home?” Ben said. He had to admit that the idea was a bit nervousness-inducing. Being away from home. Mom thought it would help him with his powers, and he’d be close to Poe, his friend...it didn’t mean that Ben wasn’t nervous, though. 

“If you want it to be,” Ahsoka said. She squatted by him. “Ben...I can sense that this is pretty scary for you. I really do. Just know that Master Skywalker and I will always be looking out for you.”

”I trust you,” Ben said. 

Han squeezed Ben’s shoulder. “We’ll stay in touch,” he said. “Just think of it like a...summer camp, or something.”

Dad was still scared and sad. Ben could sense it. He could sense everything, and it scared him.

”Yeah,” he said. “Like summer camp.”

Mom and Dad hugged him. Of course they did. It wasn’t much of a comfort. Ben wished they could stay a while, just a while longer. 

***

They left. Ben already hated watching them go, but he held the tears back. He had to. 


	2. Crossroads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben starts to suspect things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author’s Notes: Thank you for reading in advance!

_Stumbling from the wreckage, a broken older boy disbelieving of what exactly happened. The fact that Uncle Luke, his own uncle, his own family, had tried to kill him — it was something that Ben couldn’t take. The glow of the green lightsaber, shining down on Ben. Shadows. Eyes that seemed so disgusted, like he was some sort of disease..._

_Ben stumbled. It seemed like an effort just to stumble towards the top. It was pain, agony, but he had to make those steps. Even though he felt like his heart had been shattered._

_Uncle Luke hated him. He'd seen good in Vader somehow...but not Ben. What had been so terrible about Ben that Uncle Luke didn’t want him?_

_The top of the hill. Ben had a choice. He could go to the Academy. Tell them what happened. Would anyone believe him? Stars, Ben wanted someone to. Maybe he could at least go to Poe. Poe would understand..._

_The storm. The flash of lightning. Was that him? Ben couldn’t tell. The fire, flames licking and consuming — and Ben, looking upon the fruits of his own misfortune, right then and there.  
_

_***  
_

Ben was glad, at least in that moment, to snap awake — to look around and realize that he was very much in his own room, in his own bed. Ten years old, not the adult that he was in the nightmare.

Down the hall, Master Tano and Uncle Luke were talking. “...you saw it too? The vision?"

Ben pressed his ear to the wall. Listened to Luke and Ahsoka talking. His uncle’s voice. “...Ben’s so little; he can’t understand. And even if it was an alternate timeline, what can we do about it?”

Alternate timeline. Was that possible? Ben had read about things like that in holobooks.

"...if Palpatine’s still out there, we have to find a way to stop him,” Ahsoka said. “Your father says he’s on Exegol, but we need a Sith wayfinder in order to get there.”

”Great.” His uncle sounded sardonic. “Finding a Sith wayfinder. How are we going to find one?” Then, “Sorry, sounding like a whiny farmboy again.”

Ahsoka did laugh. “Considering the circumstances, I think you being a whiny farmboy is understandable.”

”I just don’t want to think of the bad timeline being the ‘correct’ one," Luke said. “Us, losing everything.”

”Luke, it’s okay,” Ahsoka said. “We’ll meet with Mara and Ezra, and we’ll work things out.”

Ben headed back to bed, huddling under the covers. He’d have to remind himself to hug Ahsoka and Luke tomorrow. 

***

Luke dropped Ben and Grogu off at the Damerons’. Of course he did. “You be good for Kes and Shara,” he said. Thanks to Luke’s intervention, Shara had survived her injuries, much to everyone’s relief. 

(Shara’s coffin, being lowered into the earth, even as Ben reassured Poe that she was with the Force now, that she was one with the Force and nothing could hurt her now)

(Ben, older, reading text after text on Force healing)

(Him, reviving a strange dead girl with three buns in her dark brown hair, pouring his energy into her. It was the least he could do, in the end)

(A kiss between the two of them, her being so grateful that she kissed him — him, just being relieved that she was alive and that she forgave him — and then, him, fading into the Force. It was all right. Palpatine was dead. Rey was alive. He could rest...)

Ben shuddered even as he snapped out of the visions. Visions. Would that have happened after Mrs. Bey died? He hated the idea. Shara Bey deserved to live. And Poe deserved to be happy. 

That was what Ben wanted, for Poe to be happy. 

***

”Ben!” Poe squatted down just to hug him, and Ben grinned. Even though Poe was thirteen now, a big kid, he somehow didn’t see Ben as just a nuisance. Somehow, Ben thought. He didn’t know how, especially considering that Poe was the age where he would easily just get tired of his best friend. At least, Ben could imagine. 

Shara Bey and Kes Dameron joined Poe too, and Grogu joined Ben, cooing excitedly even as Kes smiled at him. “Hello, Grogu. How’s your training?”

Grogu cooed softly. 

“Uncle Luke’s off with Master Tano," Ben said. "Something about visions.” He winced; he was uncomfortable telling a lie (well, a semi-lie) but Kes and Shara wouldn’t believe him. Besides, it was mean, suggesting that someone shouldn’t be there. 

Shara Bey deserved to be there.

***

”You look a little nervous," Poe said. “Everything okay?”

”Just nightmares,” Ben said, shrugging. “It’s not like you can do anything about it. I mean...I’ve just got it.”

”Still, it sucks,” Poe said. 

Ben decided to not tell Poe about...was the word “day-mares” appropriate for what was going on? The idea that nightmares could work their way into the daytime?

He didn’t know. He didn’t think he wanted to. 

***

They decided to watch a holo together. A holo about a crew traveling in space; they were on the episode where porgs infested the ship. 

— _Ben, standing at a console overlooking a salt battlefield, screaming at his men to blow the Millennium Falcon (or as he put it, that piece of junk) out of the sky_ —

Ben forced himself to look around. To know that he was safe. Everything was okay. Even as he laughed with Poe about the Porgs’ various shenanigans, at least Ben could be assured that he was in the right timeline, by far. 


	3. Fall of a Megalomaniac

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke, Mara, Ahsoka and Ezra go off to Mustafar, and come back with something more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Uncle Luke came back. Of course he did. Even as he did, his student Mara with him as well as Ezra and Master Tano, Ben didn’t miss the fact that he seemed lost. Lost and distracted and obsessed with something. Ben didn’t miss the way he looked, the way he seemed so very afraid of something. So very eager to solve a puzzle. It was something that made Ben fear for him. His uncle needed to be safe. Safe and okay.

Images. Images of his uncle fading into the Force, looking up at a horizon overlooking an ocean. Fading into the Force, leaving a robe behind. 

Ben shuddered even thinking about it. He was glad, more than anything, to not be in the timeline where his uncle was dead. 

Uncle Luke turned to look at him in that moment. “It’s all right, Ben,” he said. “You could say that I’m trying to solve a problem.”

He smiled, obviously trying to be encouraging. Ben frowned, but didn’t comment. It was something that he wished he could at least help his uncle with. Finding the answer to his problem for him.

What if he had nothing to give, though? What if he couldn’t help his uncle?

What if...

***

Poe looked after him and Grogu later. Luke, Master Tano, Mara and Ezra were looking for something. Something big. There was something out there that they were hunting, and Ben wondered, absently, if they were actually going to survive it. It really did make him wonder, make him worry, if his uncle was actually going to make it out alive. Along with the others. 

Poe looked over towards him even as they watched the Holonet program about the spaceship crew. This time, they were being boarded by a bounty hunter’s gang, being cornered. “You okay?”

Ben nodded. “Just...scared for Uncle Luke, I suppose.”

”Makes sense.” Poe smiled at him. “Don’t worry about it. Whatever they’re looking for, they’ll make it out alive. I promise.”

He gently squeezed Ben’s shoulder. A friendly gesture, a reassuring one. Even as they continued to watch the holo, Ben could almost believe that they were going to make it out alive. All of them. 

***

Uncle Luke came back. There was soot on his robes, and even as Ben caught images from his mind, he saw Palpatine, reduced to nothing more than rubble. Had Palpatine — stars, that was Palpatine the whole time — been a statue the whole time?

”What happened?” Poe said. “Really, what happened?”

Grogu cooed softly, clearly worried.

”It’s just soot, Poe,” Luke said. 

Mara nodded. “The Emperor’s gone, all three of you. You can rest easy.”

”Was it a replica — ” Ben began. 

“You could say that.” Luke said. “Come on, Ben, Grogu — let’s go home."

Ben said goodbye to Poe just then, and left. 

***

Even as Ben snuggled under the covers, voices trailed down the hallway. Something about disrupting the timeline further. 

“...it’s worth it,” Luke said. “To save the galaxy. To save Ben.” Then, “I definitely hope that I didn’t get the Emperor’s...remains on me.”

Ben wrinkled his nose at the idea. 

"You can say it’s a badge of honor,” Mara said. She sighed. “It’s...complicated, admittedly. The Emperor just being gone. I’ve been used to him dominating my life. Even hearing his voice in my head.”

”He’s gone, Mara,” Ahsoka said. “He won’t hurt you again.”

Softer, Mara spoke. “Yeah. Or Ben, or anyone.”

The voices seemed to disappear down the hall, and Ben turned over on his side, frustrated. 

(He saw Palpatine, yellow eyes like a krayt dragon. Raising his hand. “As once I fell, so falls the last Skywalker!" And Ben, falling...)

Ben gripped the sheets tighter. If this was the case, he was glad, at least, that he was in the right timeline. The one where Palpatine was effectively dead. 


	4. Learn to Fly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time passes. Ben and Poe become teenagers, and Poe goes to the Academy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing.
> 
> Author’s Notes: I was initially going to add one of Jacen Solo’s so-bad-it’s-good Dad jokes from YJK (Luke would say it), but I figured that it would clash with the tone of the chapter. And possibly earn Luke a Dark Side point. /half-kidding on that part

Time passed. Of course it did. Without the threat of Palpatine, Ben couldn’t say that he was in real danger. Even if he occasionally saw snippets of the timeline that could have been. The snippets of gold eyes in the dark. The snippets of Poe on the rack. Of a lightsaber through his father’s heart. 

He was glad, at least, that timeline wasn’t a reality. 

Still, as Ben turned from a child to a preteen to a teenager, as Luke and Mara fell in love, married and had a daughter, Beru, as he noticed Poe getting more beautiful, as Din and Bo-Katan had a daughter, Satine, he wondered if the bad timeline would still become a reality. True, there was no Palpatine — but someone would always come along to take his place. 

Ben knew that the Dark Side was always there. It was nagging at him, in his self-doubts about, simply, being good enough to live up to his family’s legacy. Being a Solo, being a Skywalker, being an Organa — he had so much to live up to. How could he even begin to be a savior of the galaxy? How could he even begin to do his family’s legacy justice?

He hoped he would be able to. He hoped for that, more than anything. 

***

”So I’m going to the Academy.” Poe told him that even as they sat under the Force tree on Yavin IV. Uncle Luke had gotten it planted when he’d managed to save it. 

Poe was eighteen now. Ben envied him — his easy, almost carefree beauty, the way his black hair framed his face. Poe was gorgeous, and Ben was just gawky and awkward and pale. Tai had reassured him that everyone looked goofy as a teenager. 

Apparently that had missed Poe. 

“Really?” Ben swallowed as he spoke. Already, the idea of Poe leaving was barely worth thinking about. There was something that rebelled against the idea. 

“Yeah. Really. Mama and Papa are okay with it; Papa was initially nervous about it but Mama said it was about time I, uh, flew the nest.” A laugh from Poe. “I’m eighteen years old and I’ll always be their little bird to them, I suppose.”

”Parents are like that,” Ben said, smiling. 

Poe laughed. He looked beautiful when he laughed, Ben thought, the crinkles that appeared around his eyes, the flash of white teeth. He looked, Ben thought, almost angelic. 

Angelic. That was the word. Not an angel, but angelic nonetheless. Calling Poe an angel would be overkill even for Ben. 

Poe stopped laughing, his eyes taking on a more earnest look. “I’m gonna miss you, Ben.”

”I’ll miss you.”

”I’ll keep in touch,” Poe said. “Promise.”

Ben bit his lip. How exactly did he let Poe remember him?

***

”You okay, Ben?” Tai and Ben were sitting outside the Temple when Tai asked that question. 

Ben sighed. “It’s Poe. He’s going away to the Academy.”

”The flight academy?”

Ben nodded. 

Tai squeezed Ben’s shoulder. “Everyone goes away sometime, Ben. Everyone’s got to grow up. Stars, one day we’ll grow up.”

Ben’s lips twisted bitterly. “It’s happening so fast.”

”Everything happens fast.”

”Talking of birds, I’m feeling like a bird pushed from its nest lately.”

Tai smiled. “Even those birds learn to fly. Poe will learn to fly. I know that. He’ll not only learn to fly, he’ll soar.”

Ben grinned. “That he will."

There was something about that that somehow, made Ben feel better. He thought of Poe, how he would do at the Academy. How he would make friends. He wouldn’t forget Ben. Hopefully. But he’d go on to be wonderful. To be extraordinary. 

***

He spent some time painting. It was the Force tree, two boys sitting under it, talking. There was something about it that made Ben smile, just thinking about it. The both of them. They were happy. He hoped Poe could at least keep it close, when he could. 

***

”Is that...” When Poe actually saw the drawing, his eyes widened, his lips parting. “Ben...”

”I thought you’d keep it,” Ben said. “Maybe it’s too much...” There was a certain stutter of fear in him. What if it _was_ too much?

Poe beamed. “It’s beautiful. Stars, I think I’m gonna get this framed. Thank you.”

He took it from Ben. Took it gently, and Ben smiled at him. “May the Force be with you,” he said. 

“You too,” Poe said. 

Ben watched as he boarded an A-wing — Shara had gotten it for Poe’s sixteenth Naming Day. Watched as Poe closed the door, took off. Ben knew that birds didn’t stay in the nest forever. It didn’t make it any less difficult. 

***

”You look like you got a mynock in your bonnet.”

That was what Aunt Mara said when Ben came back to the Academy. On the floor inside, Beru Jade-Skywalker was putting together some sort of puzzle involving womp rats. 

Ben sighed. “That’s one way to put it. I just miss Poe already.”

Mara smiled. “He’s still going to keep in touch with you. He’s good about that. And just because he’s off at the Academy doesn’t mean the two of you will stop being friends.”

”Exactly,” Luke said. “When my friend Biggs went away, I felt the same.” Then, “I suppose that’s not a good example considering...what happened to him.”

Mara sighed good-naturedly. “Farmboy, you’re scaring Ben.” There was no real malice in the nickname though. It was like an inside joke between the two of them, just romantic. 

“Right. Sorry. Then again, I didn’t really have friends on Tatooine besides Biggs. People thought I was annoying. To be fair, I was kind of a whiner as a teenager.”

”If I meet a teenager who isn’t a whiner,” Mara said, “I’m going to assume that they’re secretly a Sith.” Then, “No offense, Ben.”

”Am I a whiner?” Ben said. 

“You’re fine,” Mara said. “Ignore my last comment; it was a bad joke.”

”Ah. Aha.” 

"So,” Mara said. “Really, don’t worry about Poe. He can take care of himself. I know you think the galaxy of him, but you can’t shield him from the galaxy forever. He won’t learn to fly if not given at least the opportunity.”

”Yeah.” Ben couldn’t say he could describe what he was feeling for Poe, only that he wanted to preserve someone so wonderful. “You’re right.”

If Poe fell, though, Ben would catch him. 


End file.
